Tony Haberer News

HOUSTON, TEXAS An exuberant celebration featuring numerous displays of unbridled joy began as soon as safety Wyatt Middleton intercepted a pass to put the finishing touches on an incredibly complete performance in the Texas Bowl.

HOUSTON -- At the end of practice on Monday afternoon, Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo invited a fellow football coach, Brian Norwood, to address the Midshipmen.

Norwood is a former Navy assistant and the current defensive coordinator at Baylor. But more than that, he is Niumatalolo's best friend -- the two grew up together in Hawaii, and were high school and college teammates -- and he represented the message that Niumatalolo wanted to convey to his players, three days before their season ends against Missouri in the Texas Bowl.

Whenever he gets the chance, Army Coach Rich Ellerson watches the football teams from Navy and Georgia Tech on television. He does so partly because of his long-standing friendships with those teams' coaches, Ken Niumatalolo and Paul Johnson. But Ellerson is also curious: His team, like Niumatalolo's and Johnson's, employs the triple-option offense.

'We try to see what kind of answers people are coming up with [to defend it] along the way,' said Ellerson, who is in his first season as Army's head coach. 'We all have a little different spin on it, we all have different assets to play with. There is no doubt that if this is a family tree, the patriarch is Paul Johnson.'

Editor's Note: During Army-Navy week The Capital is profiling a selection of key seniors.

For: Immediate Release Sent: December 4, 2009 Contact: Scott Strasemeier 293-8775 Pospisil and Haberer Named Company Commanders For Second Semester ANNAPOLIS, Md.

Navy senior Ram Vela does not mind that he is often used to illustrate how the Midshipmen don't have the size of most college football teams. He refers to himself as 'the small outside linebacker,' and at 5 feet 9 and 193 pounds, he may be the smallest starting linebacker in division I-A.

'It's the truth, and you can't shy away from the truth,' said Vela, who will start the 27th game of his career Saturday, when the Midshipmen (7-3) host Delaware (6-3) in their home finale. 'At the same time, it's kind of like the story of my life -- people not expecting me to do things, kind of just defeating all odds. You definitely don't see too many Hispanics playing division I football, especially undersized ones.'

At practice Tuesday, Blake Carter was not wearing one of the special green or red jerseys that signify limitations because of injuries.

Navy cornerback Blake Carter has come out of games lately feeling as though he's been involved with a traumatic incident.

For the past seven years the Navy football team has made a living out of averaging 3- and 4-yards per play, steadily churning out the first downs and marching down the field.

To get an idea of what Navy senior inside linebacker Ross Pospisil is like, both as a football player and a person, just watch one four-minute snippet from the third quarter of the Midshipmen's 13-10 victory over Wake Forest last Saturday.

On one first-down play, Demon Deacons running back Josh Adams runs left, bumps into one of his teammates, then spins around and cuts back across the field. Pospisil, who was a yard away from Adams when he changed direction, pursues him and runs him down from behind, dragging him down following a 25-yard gain.

Not surprisingly, fullback Vince Murray was Navy's Most Valuable Player on offense after rushing for a career-high 175 yards.

Navy quarterback Kriss Proctor and running back John Howell celebrate Saturday's 13-10 victory over Wake Forest before a crowd of 31,907 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Contrary to what others might suspect, Midn. 1C Matt Nechak usually made out more than he lost.

As a freshman at Caney Creek High in Conroe, Texas, Alexander Teich attended the 2003 Houston Bowl between Navy and Texas Tech.

Here is the list of Navy's Most Valuable Player selections for the overtime victory over Air Force.

Nearly an hour after the game, Navy inside linebacker Ross Pospisil was still in full uniform talking excitedly to reporters about the thrill of beating service academy rival Air Force.

Air Force has forced overtime with a field goal on the last play of regulation. Erik Soderberg calmly drilled a 39-yarder to tie the contest at 13 and send it into an extra session.

This was not an easy week for Ricky Dobbs, Navy's usually cheerful junior quarterback. He struggled badly in the Midshipmen's loss at Pittsburgh last Saturday, and was so disgusted while watching a replay of the game that he had to turn it off.

But Dobbs recovered nicely from one of the worst performances of his young career, leading Navy to a 38-22 victory over Western Kentucky in front of a crowd of 29,009 on the 50th anniversary of the first game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. He had a hand in all five of the Midshipmen's touchdowns, and reached 100 yards in both rushing and passing.

In Tuesday's edition of The Capital is photograph of Navy co-captains Osei Asante and Ross Pospisil modeling the replica jerseys the team will wear on Saturday as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Ross Pospisil, making a play earlier this season, and fellow senior Tony Haberer are Navy's starting inside linebackers.